Process of straightening slot-rails



(No Model.)

A/J. MOXHAM.

PROCESS OF STRAIGHTBNING SLOT RAILS. No. 385,818. Patented July 10', 1888.

' UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

'ARTIIUR .T. MOXHAM, OF JOHNSTOVVN, PENNSYLVANIA.

PROCESS OF STRAIGHTENING SLOT-RAILS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 385,818, dated July 10, 1888.

Application filed February 13, 1888. Serial No. 163,836. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ARTHUR J. MOXHAM, of Johnstown, in the county of Oanibria and State of Pennsylvania, have invented anew and useful Process of Straightening the Slots of Slot-Rails for Cable Railways,which invention is fully set forth and illustrated in the following specification and accompanying drawings.

The object of this invention is to provide a process by means of which, subsequent to the execution thereof, the slot-rails of cable railways may be laid in track, with the edges oftheir sides or flanges forming the slot truly parallel.

The invention consists in first securing the slot-rails upon the bed of a suitable machine exactly at the points where said rails would be secured in track and at the same angles, and then, while so secured, cutting or planing the parts of each rail forming the sides of the slot to exactly the uniform width required, as will be hereinafter more particularly described.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows in side elevation a portion of the slot rails as secured in track to the yokes which support said rails. Fig. 2 shows in perspective a pairof slot-railssecured upon aplaningmachine or other suitable machine provided with a cutting-tool. Fig. 3 shows in perspective a check or chair to which the slotrails are to be secured upon the bed of the planing or cutting machine.

In said figures the several parts are indicated by letters of reference, as follows: The letter A indicates one each of the two slot-rails, and a the points at which said rails are secured to the cable-yokes B in Fig. 1.

0 indicates a chock secured to the bed of a planing-machine, D, through its flanges (I. As many of said chocks may be used as desired. The rails A A are clamped together on said ehocks by bolts, as shown in Fig. 2, at the points a c, which points correspond exactly with the points of attach ment of said rails, when in track, to their yokesB. Above said rails, in the frame of the planer D, is secured a cuttingtool, E such a tool as is used in ordinary planing-machinesand secured in any well-known manner so that upon the reciprocation of the bed of the machine carrying the rails A A said tool E will cut or plane away the sides of the slot between the rails A A exactly as the tool is set to cut. The rails A A, being first set at the proper angles and seen red at the proper points, as already described, may be additionally braced or secured, if desired, in any suitable manner.

In view of the adoption of this proeess,prior to setting the rails in track it would be a good plan for the manufacturer in rolling such slotrails to leave the metal a little full at the parts where the planing-tool is to cut. This, however, would notin practice be an absolute necessitv.

The advantage of this preliminary process is as follows: In constructing cable railways great difficulty has been encountered in securing a parallel slot or true alignment of the same, the sides of said slot being formed by portions of the opposite rails. No matter how true the working-edge of a slot-rail may be, unless the whole rail be true there results an uneven slot when the rails are laid in track (luring road-bed construction. The yokes to which the slot-rails are secured are rigid,while the slot-rails themselves are more or less flexible, and therefore on tightening up the slotrails against the yokes any small twist or irregularity in the body of the slot will be manifest in an irregularity or want of truth in the slot. It is, moreover, a difficult matter, owing to difficulties incidental to rolling and to the flexibility of the slot-rails, to roll the same absolutely straight, and even if absolutely straight at time of shipment they are liable to become slightly distorted in the necessary handling of transit.

By this process the slot-rails are clamped together on the chair 0 upon the bed of the planing-machine precisely in the manner which will occur in thetrack during construction that is, the rail is rigidly clamped in the same way that it would be on the yokes in the roadbed. The rails, being tightened up to the chair 0, present the same irregular slot as is ordinarily presented in the ordinary method of construction, where this prior preparatory process has not been used. The cutting-tool E, being now run through the slot between the rails clamped, as described, to the chair 0, will cut outaclear and exactly-parallel groove, forming the desired slot. Thus is secured a true slot without the necessity of overcoming other irregularities incident to the ordinary course of inanufacturawhich irregularities are thus rendered no longer objectionable. This will be evident when it is remembered that the slotbetween the rails is only aboutthree fourths of an inch Wide. A vertical irregularity of one-eighth ofan inch would beimperceptiblein practice and lead to no damage, whereas the closing of the slot but one-eighth of an inch would be a serious matter. By means, therefore, of this process true alignment or para]- lelism of the slot is obtained by taking advantage of existing irregularities and obviating their effects, instead of by eliminating said irregularities themselves, which would be a costly, if not impossible, operation or task.

As part of the work of the regular manufacturer is to drill the necessary holes in the slotrails for securing them to their yokes in the rails upon the bed of amachine at the same points and at thesamebevels or angles at which they are to be laid in track, and then cutting or planing said rails while so clamped to form the desired width of slot, substantially asand for the purposes set forth.

ARTHUR J. MOXHAM.

Witnesses:

W. E HoorEs, A. J. BRYAN. 

